Firewood Trailer

Anyone have a firewood trailer they like that works well with the Tacoma’s payload, tongue weight, and tow ratings factored in? How much wood are you able to take in a single trip?

My door jamb says only 900-something payload lol, I think TW is 680, and tow is 6,800.

Building my house that’ll be heated by wood and legal cutting areas are 30miles each way on the hwy, so I’d like to maximize each trip. It’d be ponderosa.

Been borrowing my old man’s beater 2500 with an 8ft bed but won’t always have access to that.

I’ll likely need to buy a used 3/4 ton but hoping for some success stories with tacos + trailers to hold me over.

 

Most any 10' trailer will work better than you think, maybe even longer than 10'. You can't tow 6800 lbs, but you should be able to pull 3000 with a utility trailer. That's more than the payload of most 3/4 ton trucks. Plus the 10' trailer will handle longer material easier and firewood is easier to load/unload and it doesn't beat up your truck.

I went from a 1/2 to to my Tacoma and the 1st thing I did was buy a trailer. After using it for wood and everything else I'd rather use the trailer than a truck for firewood. I've had to load some pretty big wood in the past. I've been able to just roll it up the ramp instead of lift it into the bed. I've even used hand trucks in the past to load some really big stuff. I'm getting too old for that type of wood though.

 

Awesome and thanks for the insight. I have an old 10ft trailer I picked up recently for $500 - it’s rated for about 3k but haven’t gotten around to weighing it dry so not sure how much delta I’m working with. Glad to hear your single axle and truck does the job.

 

And for the record I wasn’t planning to tow anything close to 6,800 with the taco haha. Was trying to gauge if trailer + wood combos were within a reasonable weight for our trucks. Once you go tandem it seems easy to surpass what our tacos should pull and stop.

 

A total weight of the trailer plus wood at 4,000 lbs should impose a tongue load of 400+ lbs.
This leaves you with about 500 lbs for payload in the Taco (includes you).
I tow a trailer with a 2,000+ lb tractor on it (3,500+ gross) fairly easily, although without the trailer brakes functional I'm a bit leery of hard stops for idiots.
I wouldn't lose any sleep over towing that. Find a truck stop with scales and weigh your first load to see where you're at.

 

Makes sense thanks - haul a lot but admittedly green at towing so wanting to make sure I’m not over the trailer or truck’s limits combined. Sounds like if I stick to about a cord at a time I should be good with most single axle trailers.

 

I did a cargo trailer with a Subaru Forester for years for firewood. If we were all honest, most of us would be better served by a more efficient car with about 2000lbs of towing capacity and a cargo trailer.

 

I mean fair point but life’s too short to live logically all the time. I don’t even like taking the wife’s Subaru to get groceries lol.

Jokes and firewood duty aside, I’ve been feeling the opposite of that lately watching my taco sit on the sidelines throughout this project while our 23 year old truck has been doing all the work - towing equipment or hauling enough materials to matter. I need to go wheeling again hah.

 

We used to have an old Ford dump truck from the 70s, wish we never got rid of it
Was perfect for the task

 

Badass

 

I have a 10 foot Aluma trailer. I bought it years ago when I bought a four wheeler. Made hauling it pretty easy as well as a John Deere riding lawnmower.

That trailer is invaluable. I’ve used it for so much stuff. 25 8’ fence posts on it last week. Tacoma towed it like nothing was there

 

We have a 12’ utility that works decent. I’m curious after getting a tune if I can go up a hill without shifting into 2nd gear.
Also just checked trailer prices, time to go into the trailer business. Prices went up 66% in 3 years. Yowza.

 

General Springs KC
Heavy duty Leaf springs

 

My trailer has come in clutch for me over the years.

 

i have this 6x10 box trailer i use to haul firewood, among other things of course. with moderately dry pine and juniper wood stacked and filled to the rim, the total weight including the trailer is in the 3K-3.5K pounds range typically.

i do not tow very far, maybe 50 miles round trip sometimes a little further. the tacoma does OK but i would not want to go much heavier or further.

 

I need to hire you as a firewood stacker, that looks on point!

 

We have a 10’ Aluma. Besides tires and bearings, it’s never needed anything. I really don’t remember when we got it, but it has to be 20 years ago.

 

We used to have a couple old 70s pickups and dump trucks, those are the best for firewood hauling, can toss logs in there without a care in the world. Today’s truck body’s are frail. Was sitting behind a new F350 used for landscaping with wire mesh bedside walls. Tailgate plastic trim was smashed to pieces, metal was dented. It is like they keep on making these trucks with more and more power and capacities, and the bodies are tin foil…can’t really beat on them.


So yeah a trailer is best for these little chick trucks, my 5X8 works great hauling shit that I don’t want screwing up the truck. Should have bought a 5X10 though, but we no longer burn wood. Used to own a wood burning stove business, can’t even begin to tell you how much wood I have bucked, so I am kinda burnt out on it….

 

Search for army or military trailer on Marketplace or Craigslist.

 

THIS! Much better than stacking crap in the bed, hanging out the tailgate, jammed through the back window etc.
It is awesome to have a trailer on the ready! Even split one with some friends, as many don't use but once a month.